Anders Behring Breivik was standing with his hands held above his head in passive surrender when police finally caught up with him at end of his gun rampage.

One of the first officers to arrive on the island of Utoya, described the moment the mass murderer was arrested, saying that Breivik put up no resistance.

Haavard Gaasbakk said the 32-year-old had abandoned his weapons and was standing waiting for them as they ran through the woods to apprehend him following a rampage that claimed the lives of at least 68 people.

However, Anders Snortheimsmoen, the commander of the Norwegian Delta team of special counter-terror police, admitted that his officers nearly shot Breivik dead, despite his passive stance, because they feared he was wearing an explosive belt. The decision was made by a "very narrow margin," he said

Details of Breivik's surrender emerged as Norway's prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, said an independent "22 July Commission" would be formed to investigate the attacks.

Norwegian police have been heavily criticised over the speed of their response to the Utoya shootings.

Outlining the moment of Brevik's capture for the first time, Mr Gaasbakk told how he was on a day off when he got an urgent call to go to Utoya, where police had begun receiving reports of shots being fired, on Friday last week.

He joined one other policeman and eight armed policemen from the specialist "Delta Force" unit as they took boats to the island.

There they found a group of terrified teenagers pointing towards the other end of the island.

"We heard a lot of gunshots coming fast and thick," he said.

"All of us ran towards the south part of the island where we knew the gunman was shooting.

"When we got closer, about 350 metres to run between us and him, as we approached him we started to call him.

"The terrain was very difficult and it was difficult to get clear visibility, but as we were running we came to a clearing in the forest and suddenly, in front of us, there he was – the gunman, with his hands above his head, straight in front of us.

"We apprehended him in the normal manner. His weapons lay 50m away on the ground. One of the police officers took control of the gunman and all the others ran to all the victims to give first aid."

Mr Gaasbakk returned to the island's jetty to set up a command post, and assigned officers to check for other gunman and carry on with first aid while he called for ambulances.

"There was a stream of young people coming me and police officers carrying wounded," he said. "Members of the public started to come over in their own private boats to try to evacuate everybody.

"The wounded came like on a conveyor belt and we had to change gloves in between, very fast."

The final toll of Breivik's victims could rise to 77 after police disclosed that one person is still missing from Utoya. In addition to the 68 now known to have died on the island, eight were killed by a bomb planted by Breivik in central Oslo. The names of 13 more victims were released on Wednesday.

A mini submarine is being used to search the bottom of Tyrifjorden, the lake on which the island stands, for any other bodies, and numerous personal effects which fell from the pockets of students as they swam for their lives have already been found on the lake bed.

Meanwhile Norway's prime minister Jens Stoltenberg promised a review of security in the country but insisted that it would not lead to harsh restrictions.

"It's absolutely possible to have an open, democratic, inclusive society, and at the same time have security measures and not be naive," he said.

It also emerged that Breivik is being held in a former Nazi concentration camp outside Olso which is now a maximum security prison.

Prison authorities decided to sent him to Ila prison near Olso because the alternative, Ringerike prison, would have given him a view of the island.